


In The Shadow Of Superheroes

by tielan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War (Marvel), Gen, Maria Hill In Civil War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-08 15:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4310532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Against the bright screens displaying the work of one of the most sophisticated – and secret – computer networks Fury could slide under the books at S.H.I.E.L.D – she looks small and dark, the merest shadow player in a game big enough to swallow the world whole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Shadow Of Superheroes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jena Bartley (jenab)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenab/gifts).



The woman who stands on Clint’s doorstep isn’t one he ever expected to see again.

“We met in Madagascar,” she says, her hands held up in the air. “I clocked you because I didn’t pull my punch and you got hit because you figured I had chicken-arms.”

Clint grimaces. He knew he shouldn’t have said that, even back then. But he’d just been so _floored—_ Rather the way he’s feeling now as he lowers the gun and steps back to let her in. “You’re supposed to be dead, Hill.”

 

* * *

 

 

Laura turns off the news – the national cycle is still stuck on Stark’s announcement and Rogers’ counter-statement, although a state politician has gotten caught with his hand in the coffers and his dick out of his pants so there’s a bit of local color.

“Life Model Decoys,” Maria says as she sits at the table and Laura brings over a mug of coffee. “Not just something Stark invented before he moved onto murderbots. Oh, God, real coffee. I haven’t had anything for three days. Banner cleared out the jet before he dumped it and I couldn’t risk being seen.”

Clint sits down. He needs the solidity of something under his legs. That’s three shocks in a row, and he’s not young anymore. He focuses on the last item: “You found Banner?”

“I found Banner’s Quinjet,” she corrects. “It had enough juice to get me here, although it’s not going to get out of that grove without fuel. I was hoping you could help with that.”

“And hoping I could help with a few more things?”

Maria doesn’t look away. “I need the Panel.”

Clint figures he should have seen this coming. “Fury had it locked and coded.”

She makes a ‘pfft’ noise. “Fury’s codes I can deal with. The person or people who ordered me shot down? That’s another level of trouble entirely.”

“Why you?” Nate stirs in Laura’s arms and she jiggles him back to milk-filled slumber. “No offence, Maria, but you’re not a superhero.”

“No, I’m not,” she agrees. “But I’ve worked with both Stark and Rogers, as well as with the Avengers. I know most of the people the Registration Act will affect – but the issue itself doesn’t touch me.”

“And you’re not exactly known for falling into line,” Clint notes, more than a little amused. “Which makes you a liability when someone’s trying to cause trouble.”

“I also figured I’d drop in and give you warning. And ask a favor.”

Clint’s not surprised. “This is the ‘few more things’ right?”

“I need someone on the inside, cooling heads.”

“Do you remember the bit where I retired?”

“I remember the bit where you were in the Avengers,” she answers steadily. “And so does most of the known world. You think you’re going to get to stand back just because you’re not in the scene anymore, Barton? Think again. The Registration Act covers all vigilantes and superheroes, whether or not they’re active. And some of them know where you live.”

She says it drolly, not as a threat. Still, something in Clint tenses, too accustomed to thinking of this place as a haven away from his work. “You think Stark would--?”

“God, no. And neither would Steve.” Then she hesitates. “But they can’t speak for everyone in their party.”

Clint looks at Laura who simply says, “They’re your team-mates. I trust them.”

He trusts them, too. But, as Maria says, it’s all the others who worry him. “I’d feel better if we moved you,” he says to Laura at last and sees her sigh. “Even just for the duration. Assuming it’s not going to go on forever.”

He looks at Maria, who shrugs. “One way or another, it’s going to end in tears.”

“How do you stand being such an optimist, Hill?”

“It’s a dirty job. Someone’s gotta do it.” She tilts the mug up, drinking the remainder of the coffee before setting it down the table. “Do you mind if I co-opt the barn? I hear Fury had a nice little setup – unless you’ve been doing home improvements since I was last here.”

“Not yet,” Laura comments with a sideways look.

Clint waves a hand and ignores his wife's commentary and Maria's smirk both. “Make yourself at home.”

 

* * *

 

Four hours later, with Laura and the kids on their way to visit her best friend up in Washington State, Clint comes back to collect his things and look in on Maria.

As he suggested, she's made herself quite at home with a suitcase on the bed, her tablet already connected up, and the computers firing steadily up, running searches on...well, he can only imagine.

She pauses the video of Senator Fletcher ranting about the dangers of superheroes who answer to no laws and eyes the gear he’s packing – the luggage-like case that houses his favorite set of bow and arrows. Laura teased him about keeping it in reserve, but they both knew it was too much a part of who he was to just throw away.

“You didn’t go with them?”

Clint crosses over to the closet where he hung his last Avengers uniform innocuous in a proper suit bag. A memento, he'd told himself, knowing it wasn’t really. “I’ve got a side to join.”

The silence behind him is speaking. “Which side?”

He looks over at her. Against the bright screens displaying the work of one of the most sophisticated – and secret – networked computer systems Fury could slide into the books at S.H.I.E.L.D – she looks small and dark, the merest shadow player in a game big enough to swallow the world whole. Clint grins. He’s lurked in more than his fair share of shadows through the years. What’s one more?

In answer to her question, he lifts one shoulder. “Guess it depends what they have to offer me in intel.”

“Thank you.”

He tosses the suit bag over his shoulder and picks up the case. “Thank me by finding out who I should be aiming for.”

He leaves her to dig deep and heads out to join the fray.


End file.
